Very nice, I particularly like the framing for the last one of the house.
It would make a great print on the wall.

What exactly do you find to be the best settings for youwith theS9500?
I favour aperture mode for close ups of flowers or landscapes etc but tend to be in auto 70% of the time.I put most of my bad shots downto poor composition or lighting at the time, strong contrast ones such as your house image are what really stand out.

Hi Spyder - I was beginning to think nobody was interested in my pics LOL

The only advice I can really give is get out take photos - what I did was setup cam on tripod, took the same pic with all the settings - auto,manual,a,p etc then came home put them on the computer,checked the exif on them so I knew what settings worked well.

Most of the time I am using manual, program mode is pretty good.

Now my next thing is to try and get indoor pics with no color cast, the joys of having halogen lighting in my house (lol), wonder if they make daylight halogen bulbs??

Anyways hope this is useful to you.

At the start I thought I had a dud S9500 - but thanks to this froum and other ones I have learnt about this camera and my pics are getting better all the time!!!

Funny u should mention the framing of the lock-keepers house. This was my first attempt and getting composition better , i think it came out good. Im gonna get it printed out maybe 13by10 and put my framers hat back on and get it framed for the house!!!

One last bit of advice - read the manual - then leave it for a week - then read it again- leave it for a few days again - then read it again - youll be amazed what u remember and learn every time you go back to it!!!!

Ok long enough post - as I have already said - hope this is of help!!!!!

Oh I'm not having any problems with my pictures and I've read the manual over a dozen times as it is, it's just that the lighting can really make or break a good photo. Where I live, Western Australia, the summer sun can really wash out any detail in photos so early morning or late afternoon is about it if you want nice outdoor shots. I prefer the longershadowsand better contrast in winter.

My question over your preferred settings was in regard to the posts I've seen on this forum where some people are trying to find the sweet spot with taking pictures with this camera. I've not had any problems with the focus whether I'm on auto or manual modes although I do prefer to take control of the aperture for capturing or blurring detail as the need arises.My only problem after coming from a smaller zoom camera to this one was getting re-acquainted with being super steady with the zoom out, something I haven't done since my last SLR Canon from years ago. It makes all the differencegetting the image as steady as possible, as you are no doubt aware having used the tripodin those shots.

Yes lighting is the all inportant factor in all pics - if only i could get my S9500 set up properly for indoor shots - tried everything and still get color casts etc. Maybe have to play more (lol)

By the way all the photos in this topic where hand held!!! which really suprised me especially the horses pic which is nearly at full zoom including digital.

Sorry I cant help u more but as i have said keep trying - thats really it - I was about to give up on this camera -until I sat down thought about it more -then went out and took lots of photos. Talk about a shock going from a S5000 to my S9500.

I've not been to worried with indoor shots as I usually correct the levels in Pshop anyhow if they need it, I still get a kick out of the natural light mode for indoor/night shots, with those I rarely need to do a touch up at all. This camera certainly grows on you that's for sure.